


Comfort

by pomegranateoctopus



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Bad Things Happen To Cecil, Carlos Likes Documentaries, Cecil Likes Westerns, Hurt/Comfort, Ice Cream, Lauren is Mean, M/M, Movie Watching, Romance, Takes Place Sometime After Visitor, Therapeutic Cuddling, hair petting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 13:51:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2027445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pomegranateoctopus/pseuds/pomegranateoctopus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil has a bad day, and is in need of some comfort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little old and may be kind of non canon compliant.

Cecil Palmer was not having a good morning. He'd woken up late, misplaced his watch, forgotten to make coffee, and nearly been run over by a City Council messenger child on a wheel-less bicycle. All that and he hadn't even gotten to work yet. Cecil limped slightly to the radio station and tried his hardest not to blame Carlos. Carlos, who had been researching in Radon Canyon for the past three days, and thus hadn't been there to wake Cecil up. It wouldn't bother him normally, but they had just moved in together. Cecil was of the mind that if someone lived with their significant other, said significant other could be there some of the time to make sure they woke up in time to get to work. 

The station loomed over him, which shouldn't be possible considering the size of the building. Maybe it was the radio tower doing the looming. Something was looming at any rate.  
"You're late," chided Daniel in his usual monotone when he entered the building. Cecil dragged himself into the booth, slumping in his chair. He looked over his agenda for the day. The station was in between interns at the moment, so Cecil had to get stories and interviews himself today.  
"Cecil," said a voice that practically screamed, "I don't work for an evil corporation! Nope! How could you think such a thing?"  
"Hello, Lauren."  
"Daniel told me that you came in late this morning. Are you feeling alright?"  
Cecil didn't think for a second she actually cared. "Fine," he replied.  
"Well considering your attitude lately, it doesn't seem like it. Maybe you could remember, for once, that you are part of the StrexCorp team and act accordingly?"  
She left after several seconds of glaring. Cecil muttered a curse at her when she was out of hearing range. 

The day only got worse. He left his tape recorder at the station when he went out, and had to rely on awkwardly taking notes with a notepad and non-pen. He barely got anything from his interviews. Steve Carlsberg kept emailing him his latest batch of conspiracy theories, which was something about a secret underground City Council, even though everyone knew that was just the regular City Council in different robes. He'd reported on it the week before, and of course the sole occupant of Cecil's "Jerks Who Aren't Good Enough For My Sister" list hadn't been listening. When he got back at the station, he was exhausted from running around town all day. He was then treated to another lecture about being a "team player" from Lauren, peppered with the usual threats towards his loved ones. By the time he got to the booth, he wished this day could be over. Cecil collapsed into his chair and closed his eyes. Just the evening broadcast, and then he was done. 

"And now, the weather."  
Cecil decided that what he needed when this day was over was comfort. Going out after work, he decided, was right out. The broadcaster was going to go straight home. What comforting things did he have at home? He thought of the pint of vanilla ice cream in the freezer, the lavender scented candles by their bed, and a movie. That sounded perfect. As he jotted down his items in his phone, the final piece of his plan came to him. Well, texted him. 

_Might be home late tonight.  
XOXO_

For the first time that day, Cecil smiled.

The drive home was slow and exhausting. A very panicked new Secret Police officer was directing traffic, which slowed traffic to a crawl. It led to a lot of swearing and honking on the drivers' part and panicked semaphore flag waving on the officer's part. Cecil really should have seen this coming, considering he had reported on the situation earlier that evening. At this point he didn't even have the energy to be frustrated. When the reporter finally made it home, it took all his resolve not to just collapse on the couch and call it a day. 

The freezer was kind of a mess. The ice cream turned out to be in between a frozen chicken that they should really have eaten by now and a frozen chicken fetus that Carlos really should have taken to the lab. The ice cream container was suspiciously light. He opened the tub and, as he suspected, it was completely empty. The tub went in the trash and Cecil tried his hardest to stay calm. 

Carlos found the scent of lavender comforting. Cecil associated the smell with Carlos, so he found it comforting too. Two light purple candles sat on the bedside table. Two very short, burned out candles. With a huff, Cecil tried to straighten out the wilting wicks with his fingers, but they were still just too short. Candles plunked back on the table and the radio host plunked on the bed. He shot a glare at the only other living thing in the room, Khoshekh, who head butted him and purred loudly.  
"I'm not having a good day, kitty," he sighed as he scratched behind the cat's ears.  
"Mrow," was all he got as a response.

There was always still a movie. Pulling himself up, Cecil located his boyfriend's older laptop, which had now unofficially become his. And of course, his Netflix password wasn't working. The account was connected to Carlos' email. He didn't know Carlos' email password. He knew this was a stupid little thing to be upset over, he did. But nothing had been going right that day and damn it, why couldn't he even watch a movie without everything going wrong!  
He heard the front door open.

Carlos was not having a good day. He had spent the last three days in a hazmat suit in Radon Canyon. Everything hurt, and he was exhausted. Cecil was coming towards him purposefully. Oh, god he couldn't deal with this right now.  
"Carlos, do you think you could reset your Netflix password? It's not letting me in and-"  
"Cecil, please, can we not do this right now? I'm so tired, I can't deal with anything. I just got home. I know we haven't seen each other for a few days but… could you just leave me alone for a little while? I just- I can't deal with anymore- I just can't Cecil." He was being snappy and unfair, he knew, and he expected Cecil to snap right back or passive-aggressively get back at him. Instead, he just nodded.  
"Okay," he said softly, and left in the direction of the bedroom. He heard the door shut, followed by a soft thud then a louder one.  
Great.

Carlos found his boyfriend laying facedown on the bed with Khoshekh sitting on his lower back. His phone was sitting next to his left hand, the screen much too bright in the dark room. He sat down carefully and picked up the phone. It was open to a reminder- a list. It read:

_Comfort Night-_  
Ice Cream  
Candles  
Movie  
Carlos  <3

He looked over at Cecil, whose face was barely visible between his arms. He looked exhausted and miserable. Hesitantly, Carlos ran his hand up and down Cecil's back.  
"All I wanted was a nice evening at home," he said softly.  
"I know. I'm sorry I snapped at you, I'm really tired. But it looks like you are too," Carlos explained guiltily.  
"I'm sorry. Nothing went right today and I'm *so tired* and I just wanted to come home and relax but that didn't go right either," Cecil rambled, still lying facedown and not looking at Carlos. He really felt like crap now. Once again, his attention was brought to the list. An idea came to him.  
"I'm going to go out for a little while," he said, running a hand through Cecil's hair, "Why don’t you try to get some rest until I get back?"  
"Okay," he mumbled in response. With a kiss to the side of his boyfriend's head, Carlos left the room and catalogued where to go and what to get. 

Cecil woke to Carlos' soft voice and the smell of something delicious.  
"Cecil, wake up."  
"Mmph. There's a cat on my back." Which was true. Khoshekh had not moved at all since he had fallen asleep, and apparently drifted off himself.  
"So move the cat," Carlos responded with a slight laugh.  
Cecil pulled himself up, dislodging the cat, who settled on Carlos' pillow instead. That would aggravate his allergies, Cecil thought, and told himself to remember to switch pillows later that night. Carlos held out a hand, and Cecil took it. The scientist led the two into the living room, and they were greeted with the sight of a light purple candle sitting unlit on the coffee table and a movie paused on its opening credits. "I saw your list," Carlos explained, "the ice cream's in the freezer, but I thought you might want something else too so I went ahead and made dinner."  
"You got everything on my list…"  
"Yeah. I didn't have a great day, and it sounds like you didn't either. When I saw your list I thought it sounded nice. Comforting."

They ate dinner and had a long, cathartic session of complaining about how awful their respective days were. Afterwards, the two settled on the couch with their ice cream and the candle lit. Carlos lay down with his head on Cecil's chest, which was the position he took when his boyfriend wanted to play with his hair. The movie was a documentary about the old west, which Carlos thought they would both enjoy. Carlos tried to feed Cecil spoonfuls of ice cream, but from his position he kept poking him in the face instead and Cecil took the spoon. Fingers combed through Carlos' hair, braiding and unwinding little sections of black curls. Soft candlelight and the glow of the TV lit up the dark room. The stress of the day was slowly replaced by the scent of lavender and gentle touches. Halfway through the documentary they decided they were done with the ice cream. Once it was put away, Cecil and Carlos decided to switch positions, which Cecil insisted was because he liked having his hair played with just as much as Carlos did, and not because Carlos had made his boyfriend's legs fall asleep. The night drifted lazily on. Gradually, the two paid less and less attention to the movie, although they did gripe about how all the cowboys in the reenactment sections were played by white guys. With each factoid the TV offered, Carlos became more interested in nuzzling his companion's hair, Cecil in lazily stroking the arms that held him close. They hardly noticed when the credits began to roll.  
"Want to watch something else?" Carlos asked.  
"Mmm, no," Cecil said, switching off the TV and flipping onto his stomach. Both of them closed their eyes, drifting into not-quite-sleep.  
"Thank you," Cecil said, breaking the silence, "For tonight, I mean."  
"It was your idea. Besides, I probably needed the comfort just as much as you did."  
"Do you feel comforted?"  
Carlos presses a kiss to the tip of his nose in lieu of an answer. They stayed like that for a while, just breathing and existing together. Eventually, the candle was blown out, and the two stumbled into bed.

About a week later, Carlos found himself growling at his test results and wishing that the laws of physics would just do their job that day. Reactions weren't happening correctly, data kept coming back garbled and inconclusive. Apparently, science just wasn't happening today, Carlos' work schedule be damned. Giving up, Carlos thumped his forehead against the lab table and wondered when Cecil's show would start. As if to spite him, the radio buzzed with the static of dead air. Without any work to concentrate on, every little thing was annoying him. The lights were too harsh, the radio buzz was grating, even the stool he was sitting on was uncomfortable.  
Uncomfortable. He pulled out his phone and texted Cecil. 

_Comfort night tonight?_

He drummed fingers on the tabletop in anticipation. 

_That sounds wonderful._

A tradition was born. It was agreed that bad days would end in Comfort Nights. Food and copious cuddling was a must, but what they actually did varied. After a particularly nasty session of re-education on Cecil's side and an attack by an animated lawn flamingo on Carlos', the two found themselves squished together in a blanket nest with Carlos explaining how to play Rampage.  
"So you basically just destroy stuff with your giant monster."  
"Is it weird that we're comforting ourselves with video games about destroying cities?"  
"No. Why would that be weird?"  
Cecil didn't reply. The night progressed with a lot of button smashing, giggling, and tossing snack foods at each other. Later, Carlos lay on his back in bed with Cecil on his stomach, in both senses. The scientist kissed the top of his boyfriend's head.  
"Comforted?"  
"Of course."


End file.
